Carole Gagne

Eric Serge Gagne was born on January 7, 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Richard Gagne, a bus driver, and Carole Gagne.
...
Encouraged by his parents, Gagne pursued his interest in sports, playing both baseball and hockey, the latter as a defenseman.
...
Gagne attended the Polyvalente Edouard Montpetit High School, in Montreal, which specializes in training gifted athletes. (A dozen of its alumni are currently on the rosters of Major League Baseball teams.) The year he turned 15, Gagne left his parents' home to live in his own, school-provided apartment in Montreal.Throughout high school he struggled to decide whether to pursue baseball or hockey exclusively.As a Montreal-area French Canadian, he felt strongly drawn to the national pastime; his ability to throw blistering fastballs and other particular talents, however, suggested that baseball was his true calling.For two years Gagne was a starter on Team Canada's junior world-championship baseball team.In 1995 he moved to the national team; since it already had more than enough starters (among them the future major-league hurler Ryan Dempster), he began serving as closer for the first time.Meanwhile, Gagne had attracted the interest of major-league scouts.In 1994 the Chicago White Sox drafted him, in the 30th round.As a high-school senior, he faced choices that included playing baseball for the White Sox organization, accepting a hockey scholarship to the University of Vermont, or remaining in Canada and possibly pitching for Canada in the next Olympic baseball competitions.Gagne decided to focus on baseball (and a possible Olympic appearance); he matriculated at Seminole State Junior College, in Seminole, Oklahoma, a school recommended by one of his Team Canada colleagues.At Seminole State, Gagne, a native speaker of French with minimal command of English, learned the latter language by attending twice-a-day tutoring sessions, taping class lectures and listening to them repeatedly, and watching such American sitcoms as Everybody Loves Raymond and Mad About You.
...
"He turned me around," Gagne recalled to Gurnick.
...
Later in 1994, due to a technicality, Major League Baseball declared Gagne an amateur free agent; thus, the White Sox no longer had a claim to his services.In the spring of 1995, Claude Pelletier, a Canadian-born baseball scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers who had been following Gagne's development for several years, offered him a contract with the Dodgers.
...
With his heart set on the Olympics, Gagne hesitated, until Pelletier pointed out, according to the JockBio Web site, that the Canadian national baseball team "had yet to qualify for the Atlanta Summer Games, while a deal with the Dodgers guaranteed him a shot at pro ball."
...
Gagne then joined the Dodgers, earning a $75,000 signing bonus.

Gagne began his career in the Dodgers organization with the Class-A Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League, in the spring of 1996.In his first year he won seven games, lost six, and piled up an impressive 131 strikeouts over 115 innings.
...
Those misgivings notwithstanding, Gagne returned to organized ball in the spring of 1998, with Class-A Vero Beach of the Florida State League, with whom he began to rebuild his pitching repertoire.Given the fragility of his elbow, he was not permitted to throw splitters or sliders.Instead, he focused on his fastball and added the change-up to his arsenal.He completed the season with nine wins and 144 strikeouts.Gagne began the 1999 season with the Double-A San Antonio Missions of the Texas League.With a devastating change-up and scalding fastball, Gagne pitched two perfect innings in the Double-A All-Star Game, held at mid-season.He maintained his dominance through the rest of the season, notching at least 10 strikeouts in five consecutive starts; he was the first minor leaguer in three years to accomplish that feat.

Leaping straight from Double-A to the big leagues, Gagne made his debut with the Dodgers on September 7, 1999.He performed outstandingly on the mound, pitching six scoreless innings and recording eight strikeouts in a game won by the Florida Marlins, with no decision for either him or the Marlins' pitcher, Ryan Dempsey.In the next weeks he won one game and lost one, compiling an earned-run average (ERA) of 2.10, with 30 strikeouts and 15 walks in 30 innings.At the end of the season, with 185 strikeouts in 167 innings and a 12-4 record with the Missions, he was named the Dodgers' minor-league pitcher of the year.

Gagne did not live up to expectations in the 2000 season.After spring training, in which he compiled an ERA of 15.63, he failed to make the big-league roster; instead, he was optioned to the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League (PCL).But after several of the Dodgers' starting pitchers suffered injuries during the early weeks of the season, Gagne was again called up to the big-league club.Control continued to elude him, however, and he was shuttled back and forth between the Dukes and the Dodgers throughout the season.When he returned to the Dodgers in September, he succeeded in making some satisfactory starts.In the majors that year, Gagne pitched a bit over 101 innings and started 19 games; his record also included four wins and six losses, an ERA of 5.15, 79 strikeouts, and 60 walks.His numbers in Albuquerque were more impressive: Gagne won five games and lost one and posted a 3.88 ERA.He also shone in the postseason, pitching to a semifinal-round victory for Albuquerque in the PCL play-offs against the Memphis Redbirds.

Gagne performed inconsistently in the opening months of the 2001 season, and he again traveled back and forth between the Dukes and the Dodgers before earning his spot on the big-league roster permanently in July.That same month the Dodgers' general manager, Dave Wallace, proposed to others within the organization the possibility of using Gagne as a closer, but no action was taken toward implementing his suggestion.
...
Consequently, the team's manager, Jim Tracy, began using Gagne as a long reliever.
...
Gagne proved to be effective in that role, but the Dodgers were unable to clinch a play-off berth, finishing the season with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses.At season's end, Gagne had compiled six wins, seven losses, and an ERA of 4.75.He notched 130 strikeouts, 46 walks, appeared in 33 games—in 24 as a starter—and pitched, in total, a little more than 151 innings.

In the 2002 season Gagne found his footing in the major leagues, establishing himself as one of the game's premier closers.To prepare for that year's campaign, he undertook a strenuous exercise regimen, working out in Montreal with several hockey players.By the time he reported to spring training, he had increased the velocity of his fastball from 93 to 97 miles per hour (mph).At the same time, his already impressive change-up strengthened.When Tracy tested Gagne in the bullpen during spring training, the pitcher played well.
...
Just a week into the season, Tracy assigned Gagne to that position.
...
A "turning point" in his career, as Gagne told a Sports Illustrated (June 17, 2002) writer, came on April 11, 2002, during a contest with the San Francisco Giants.The Dodgers held a one-run lead when, in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tracy--showing "a lot of confidence in me," as Gagne told the Sports Illustrated writer--sent him to the mound.
...
Gagne pitched his way into trouble, putting runners on first and third with one out.Tracy then visited the mound, telling Gagne, "I should bring in [the lefthander Jesse] Orosco, but I'm not.
...
Gagne struck out the next batter and got the final out on a fly to center field.During the rest of April, Gagne performed outstandingly, racking up nine saves with an ERA of 0.69.He continued in that mode in May and June."The stuff [Gagne is] featuring now is the best stuff I've ever seen . . . ," his teammate Shawn Green said to Mike DiGiovanna for the Los Angeles Times (June 22, 2002).
...
In a contest with the Cincinnati Reds on August 1, Gagne was ejected from the game for hitting a batter with the ball; in the ensuing verbal confrontation between Gagne and the umpire, the former bumped into the latter while arguing his case.A day later Major League Baseball officials ruled that the umpire had been at fault, that his dismissing Gagne from the game had been unwarranted, and that the league would not punish Gagne for the incidental contact.In the following games Gagne pitched just o

Eric Serge Gagne was born on January 7, 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Richard Gagne, a bus driver, and Carole Gagne.
...
Encouraged by his parents, Gagne pursued his interest in sports, playing both baseball and hockey, the latter as a defenseman.
...
Gagne attended the Polyvalente Edouard Montpetit High School, in Montreal, which specializes in training gifted athletes. (A dozen of its alumni are currently on the rosters of Major League Baseball teams.) The year he turned 15, Gagne left his parents' home to live in his own, school-provided apartment in Montreal.Throughout high school he struggled to decide whether to pursue baseball or hockey exclusively.As a Montreal-area French Canadian, he felt strongly drawn to the national pastime; his ability to throw blistering fastballs and other particular talents, however, suggested that baseball was his true calling.For two years Gagne was a starter on Team Canada's junior world-championship baseball team.In 1995 he moved to the national team; since it already had more than enough starters (among them the future major-league hurler Ryan Dempster), he began serving as closer for the first time.Meanwhile, Gagne had attracted the interest of major-league scouts.In 1994 the Chicago White Sox drafted him, in the 30th round.As a high-school senior, he faced choices that included playing baseball for the White Sox organization, accepting a hockey scholarship to the University of Vermont, or remaining in Canada and possibly pitching for Canada in the next Olympic baseball competitions.Gagne decided to focus on baseball (and a possible Olympic appearance); he matriculated at Seminole State Junior College, in Seminole, Oklahoma, a school recommended by one of his Team Canada colleagues.At Seminole State, Gagne, a native speaker of French with minimal command of English, learned the latter language by attending twice-a-day tutoring sessions, taping class lectures and listening to them repeatedly, and watching such American sitcoms as Everybody Loves Raymond and Mad About You.
...
"He turned me around," Gagne recalled to Gurnick.
...
Later in 1994, due to a technicality, Major League Baseball declared Gagne an amateur free agent; thus, the White Sox no longer had a claim to his services.In the spring of 1995, Claude Pelletier, a Canadian-born baseball scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers who had been following Gagne's development for several years, offered him a contract with the Dodgers.
...
With his heart set on the Olympics, Gagne hesitated, until Pelletier pointed out, according to the JockBio Web site, that the Canadian national baseball team "had yet to qualify for the Atlanta Summer Games, while a deal with the Dodgers guaranteed him a shot at pro ball."
...
Gagne then joined the Dodgers, earning a $75,000 signing bonus.

Gagne began his career in the Dodgers organization with the Class-A Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League, in the spring of 1996.In his first year he won seven games, lost six, and piled up an impressive 131 strikeouts over 115 innings.
...
Those misgivings notwithstanding, Gagne returned to organized ball in the spring of 1998, with Class-A Vero Beach of the Florida State League, with whom he began to rebuild his pitching repertoire.Given the fragility of his elbow, he was not permitted to throw splitters or sliders.Instead, he focused on his fastball and added the change-up to his arsenal.He completed the season with nine wins and 144 strikeouts.Gagne began the 1999 season with the Double-A San Antonio Missions of the Texas League.With a devastating change-up and scalding fastball, Gagne pitched two perfect innings in the Double-A All-Star Game, held at mid-season.He maintained his dominance through the rest of the season, notching at least 10 strikeouts in five consecutive starts; he was the first minor leaguer in three years to accomplish that feat.

Leaping straight from Double-A to the big leagues, Gagne made his debut with the Dodgers on September 7, 1999.He performed outstandingly on the mound, pitching six scoreless innings and recording eight strikeouts in a game won by the Florida Marlins, with no decision for either him or the Marlins' pitcher, Ryan Dempsey.In the next weeks he won one game and lost one, compiling an earned-run average (ERA) of 2.10, with 30 strikeouts and 15 walks in 30 innings.At the end of the season, with 185 strikeouts in 167 innings and a 12-4 record with the Missions, he was named the Dodgers' minor-league pitcher of the year.

Gagne did not live up to expectations in the 2000 season.After spring training, in which he compiled an ERA of 15.63, he failed to make the big-league roster; instead, he was optioned to the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League (PCL).But after several of the Dodgers' starting pitchers suffered injuries during the early weeks of the season, Gagne was again called up to the big-league club.Control continued to elude him, however, and he was shuttled back and forth between the Dukes and the Dodgers throughout the season.When he returned to the Dodgers in September, he succeeded in making some satisfactory starts.In the majors that year, Gagne pitched a bit over 101 innings and started 19 games; his record also included four wins and six losses, an ERA of 5.15, 79 strikeouts, and 60 walks.His numbers in Albuquerque were more impressive: Gagne won five games and lost one and posted a 3.88 ERA.He also shone in the postseason, pitching to a semifinal-round victory for Albuquerque in the PCL play-offs against the Memphis Redbirds.

Gagne performed inconsistently in the opening months of the 2001 season, and he again traveled back and forth between the Dukes and the Dodgers before earning his spot on the big-league roster permanently in July.That same month the Dodgers' general manager, Dave Wallace, proposed to others within the organization the possibility of using Gagne as a closer, but no action was taken toward implementing his suggestion.
...
Consequently, the team's manager, Jim Tracy, began using Gagne as a long reliever.
...
Gagne proved to be effective in that role, but the Dodgers were unable to clinch a play-off berth, finishing the season with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses.At season's end, Gagne had compiled six wins, seven losses, and an ERA of 4.75.He notched 130 strikeouts, 46 walks, appeared in 33 games—in 24 as a starter—and pitched, in total, a little more than 151 innings.

In the 2002 season Gagne found his footing in the major leagues, establishing himself as one of the game's premier closers.To prepare for that year's campaign, he undertook a strenuous exercise regimen, working out in Montreal with several hockey players.By the time he reported to spring training, he had increased the velocity of his fastball from 93 to 97 miles per hour (mph).At the same time, his already impressive change-up strengthened.When Tracy tested Gagne in the bullpen during spring training, the pitcher played well.
...
Just a week into the season, Tracy assigned Gagne to that position.
...
A "turning point" in his career, as Gagne told a Sports Illustrated (June 17, 2002) writer, came on April 11, 2002, during a contest with the San Francisco Giants.The Dodgers held a one-run lead when, in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tracy--showing "a lot of confidence in me," as Gagne told the Sports Illustrated writer--sent him to the mound.
...
Gagne pitched his way into trouble, putting runners on first and third with one out.Tracy then visited the mound, telling Gagne, "I should bring in [the lefthander Jesse] Orosco, but I'm not.
...
Gagne struck out the next batter and got the final out on a fly to center field.During the rest of April, Gagne performed outstandingly, racking up nine saves with an ERA of 0.69.He continued in that mode in May and June."The stuff [Gagne is] featuring now is the best stuff I've ever seen . . . ," his teammate Shawn Green said to Mike DiGiovanna for the Los Angeles Times (June 22, 2002).
...
In a contest with the Cincinnati Reds on August 1, Gagne was ejected from the game for hitting a batter with the ball; in the ensuing verbal confrontation between Gagne and the umpire, the former bumped into the latter while arguing his case.A day later Major League Baseball officials ruled that the umpire had been at fault, that his dismissing Gagne from the game had been unwarranted, and that the league would not punish Gagne for the incidental contact.In the following games Gagne pitch

Eric Serge Gagne was born on January 7, 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Richard Gagne, a bus driver, and Carole Gagne.
...
Encouraged by his parents, Gagne pursued his interest in sports, playing both baseball and hockey, the latter as a defenseman.
...
Gagne attended the Polyvalente Edouard Montpetit High School, in Montreal, which specializes in training gifted athletes. (A dozen of its alumni are currently on the rosters of Major League Baseball teams.) The year he turned 15, Gagne left his parents' home to live in his own, school-provided apartment in Montreal.Throughout high school he struggled to decide whether to pursue baseball or hockey exclusively.As a Montreal-area French Canadian, he felt strongly drawn to the national pastime; his ability to throw blistering fastballs and other particular talents, however, suggested that baseball was his true calling.For two years Gagne was a starter on Team Canada's junior world-championship baseball team.In 1995 he moved to the national team; since it already had more than enough starters (among them the future major-league hurler Ryan Dempster), he began serving as closer for the first time.Meanwhile, Gagne had attracted the interest of major-league scouts.In 1994 the Chicago White Sox drafted him, in the 30th round.As a high-school senior, he faced choices that included playing baseball for the White Sox organization, accepting a hockey scholarship to the University of Vermont, or remaining in Canada and possibly pitching for Canada in the next Olympic baseball competitions.Gagne decided to focus on baseball (and a possible Olympic appearance); he matriculated at Seminole State Junior College, in Seminole, Oklahoma, a school recommended by one of his Team Canada colleagues.At Seminole State, Gagne, a native speaker of French with minimal command of English, learned the latter language by attending twice-a-day tutoring sessions, taping class lectures and listening to them repeatedly, and watching such American sitcoms as Everybody Loves Raymond and Mad About You.
...
"He turned me around," Gagne recalled to Gurnick.
...
Later in 1994, due to a technicality, Major League Baseball declared Gagne an amateur free agent; thus, the White Sox no longer had a claim to his services.In the spring of 1995, Claude Pelletier, a Canadian-born baseball scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers who had been following Gagne's development for several years, offered him a contract with the Dodgers.
...
With his heart set on the Olympics, Gagne hesitated, until Pelletier pointed out, according to the JockBio Web site, that the Canadian national baseball team "had yet to qualify for the Atlanta Summer Games, while a deal with the Dodgers guaranteed him a shot at pro ball."
...
Gagne then joined the Dodgers, earning a $75,000 signing bonus.

Gagne began his career in the Dodgers organization with the Class-A Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League, in the spring of 1996.In his first year he won seven games, lost six, and piled up an impressive 131 strikeouts over 115 innings.
...
Those misgivings notwithstanding, Gagne returned to organized ball in the spring of 1998, with Class-A Vero Beach of the Florida State League, with whom he began to rebuild his pitching repertoire.Given the fragility of his elbow, he was not permitted to throw splitters or sliders.Instead, he focused on his fastball and added the change-up to his arsenal.He completed the season with nine wins and 144 strikeouts.Gagne began the 1999 season with the Double-A San Antonio Missions of the Texas League.With a devastating change-up and scalding fastball, Gagne pitched two perfect innings in the Double-A All-Star Game, held at mid-season.He maintained his dominance through the rest of the season, notching at least 10 strikeouts in five consecutive starts; he was the first minor leaguer in three years to accomplish that feat.

Leaping straight from Double-A to the big leagues, Gagne made his debut with the Dodgers on September 7, 1999.He performed outstandingly on the mound, pitching six scoreless innings and recording eight strikeouts in a game won by the Florida Marlins, with no decision for either him or the Marlins' pitcher, Ryan Dempsey.In the next weeks he won one game and lost one, compiling an earned-run average (ERA) of 2.10, with 30 strikeouts and 15 walks in 30 innings.At the end of the season, with 185 strikeouts in 167 innings and a 12-4 record with the Missions, he was named the Dodgers' minor-league pitcher of the year.

Gagne did not live up to expectations in the 2000 season.After spring training, in which he compiled an ERA of 15.63, he failed to make the big-league roster; instead, he was optioned to the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League (PCL).But after several of the Dodgers' starting pitchers suffered injuries during the early weeks of the season, Gagne was again called up to the big-league club.Control continued to elude him, however, and he was shuttled back and forth between the Dukes and the Dodgers throughout the season.When he returned to the Dodgers in September, he succeeded in making some satisfactory starts.In the majors that year, Gagne pitched a bit over 101 innings and started 19 games; his record also included four wins and six losses, an ERA of 5.15, 79 strikeouts, and 60 walks.His numbers in Albuquerque were more impressive: Gagne won five games and lost one and posted a 3.88 ERA.He also shone in the postseason, pitching to a semifinal-round victory for Albuquerque in the PCL play-offs against the Memphis Redbirds.

Gagne performed inconsistently in the opening months of the 2001 season, and he again traveled back and forth between the Dukes and the Dodgers before earning his spot on the big-league roster permanently in July.That same month the Dodgers' general manager, Dave Wallace, proposed to others within the organization the possibility of using Gagne as a closer, but no action was taken toward implementing his suggestion.
...
Consequently, the team's manager, Jim Tracy, began using Gagne as a long reliever.
...
Gagne proved to be effective in that role, but the Dodgers were unable to clinch a play-off berth, finishing the season with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses.At season's end, Gagne had compiled six wins, seven losses, and an ERA of 4.75.He notched 130 strikeouts, 46 walks, appeared in 33 games-in 24 as a starter-and pitched, in total, a little more than 151 innings.

In the 2002 season Gagne found his footing in the major leagues, establishing himself as one of the game's premier closers.To prepare for that year's campaign, he undertook a strenuous exercise regimen, working out in Montreal with several hockey players.By the time he reported to spring training, he had increased the velocity of his fastball from 93 to 97 miles per hour (mph).At the same time, his already impressive change-up strengthened.When Tracy tested Gagne in the bullpen during spring training, the pitcher played well.
...
Just a week into the season, Tracy assigned Gagne to that position.
...
A "turning point" in his career, as Gagne told a Sports Illustrated (June 17, 2002) writer, came on April 11, 2002, during a contest with the San Francisco Giants.The Dodgers held a one-run lead when, in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tracy--showing "a lot of confidence in me," as Gagne told the Sports Illustrated writer--sent him to the mound.
...
Gagne pitched his way into trouble, putting runners on first and third with one out.Tracy then visited the mound, telling Gagne, "I should bring in [the lefthander Jesse] Orosco, but I'm not.
...
Gagne struck out the next batter and got the final out on a fly to center field.During the rest of April, Gagne performed outstandingly, racking up nine saves with an ERA of 0.69.He continued in that mode in May and June."The stuff [Gagne is] featuring now is the best stuff I've ever seen . . . ," his teammate Shawn Green said to Mike DiGiovanna for the Los Angeles Times (June 22, 2002).
...
In a contest with the Cincinnati Reds on August 1, Gagne was ejected from the game for hitting a batter with the ball; in the ensuing verbal confrontation between Gagne and the umpire, the former bumped into the latter while arguing his case.A day later Major League Baseball officials ruled that the umpire had been at fault, that his dismissing Gagne from the game had been unwarranted, and that the league would not punish Gagne for the incidental contact.In the following games Gagne pitch

Eric Serge Gagne was born on January 7, 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Richard Gagne, a bus driver, and Carole Gagne.
...
Encouraged by his parents, Gagne pursued his interest in sports, playing both baseball and hockey, the latter as a defenseman.
...
Gagne attended the Polyvalente Edouard Montpetit High School, in Montreal, which specializes in training gifted athletes. (A dozen of its alumni are currently on the rosters of Major League Baseball teams.) The year he turned 15, Gagne left his parents' home to live in his own, school-provided apartment in Montreal.Throughout high school he struggled to decide whether to pursue baseball or hockey exclusively.As a Montreal-area French Canadian, he felt strongly drawn to the national pastime; his ability to throw blistering fastballs and other particular talents, however, suggested that baseball was his true calling.For two years Gagne was a starter on Team Canada's junior world-championship baseball team.In 1995 he moved to the national team; since it already had more than enough starters (among them the future major-league hurler Ryan Dempster), he began serving as closer for the first time.Meanwhile, Gagne had attracted the interest of major-league scouts.In 1994 the Chicago White Sox drafted him, in the 30th round.As a high-school senior, he faced choices that included playing baseball for the White Sox organization, accepting a hockey scholarship to the University of Vermont, or remaining in Canada and possibly pitching for Canada in the next Olympic baseball competitions.Gagne decided to focus on baseball (and a possible Olympic appearance); he matriculated at Seminole State Junior College, in Seminole, Oklahoma, a school recommended by one of his Team Canada colleagues.At Seminole State, Gagne, a native speaker of French with minimal command of English, learned the latter language by attending twice-a-day tutoring sessions, taping class lectures and listening to them repeatedly, and watching such American sitcoms as Everybody Loves Raymond and Mad About You.
...
"He turned me around," Gagne recalled to Gurnick.
...
Later in 1994, due to a technicality, Major League Baseball declared Gagne an amateur free agent; thus, the White Sox no longer had a claim to his services.In the spring of 1995, Claude Pelletier, a Canadian-born baseball scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers who had been following Gagne's development for several years, offered him a contract with the Dodgers.
...
With his heart set on the Olympics, Gagne hesitated, until Pelletier pointed out, according to the JockBio Web site, that the Canadian national baseball team "had yet to qualify for the Atlanta Summer Games, while a deal with the Dodgers guaranteed him a shot at pro ball."
...
Gagne then joined the Dodgers, earning a $75,000 signing bonus.

Gagne began his career in the Dodgers organization with the Class-A Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League, in the spring of 1996.In his first year he won seven games, lost six, and piled up an impressive 131 strikeouts over 115 innings.
...
Those misgivings notwithstanding, Gagne returned to organized ball in the spring of 1998, with Class-A Vero Beach of the Florida State League, with whom he began to rebuild his pitching repertoire.Given the fragility of his elbow, he was not permitted to throw splitters or sliders.Instead, he focused on his fastball and added the change-up to his arsenal.He completed the season with nine wins and 144 strikeouts.Gagne began the 1999 season with the Double-A San Antonio Missions of the Texas League.With a devastating change-up and scalding fastball, Gagne pitched two perfect innings in the Double-A All-Star Game, held at mid-season.He maintained his dominance through the rest of the season, notching at least 10 strikeouts in five consecutive starts; he was the first minor leaguer in three years to accomplish that feat.

Leaping straight from Double-A to the big leagues, Gagne made his debut with the Dodgers on September 7, 1999.He performed outstandingly on the mound, pitching six scoreless innings and recording eight strikeouts in a game won by the Florida Marlins, with no decision for either him or the Marlins' pitcher, Ryan Dempsey.In the next weeks he won one game and lost one, compiling an earned-run average (ERA) of 2.10, with 30 strikeouts and 15 walks in 30 innings.At the end of the season, with 185 strikeouts in 167 innings and a 12-4 record with the Missions, he was named the Dodgers' minor-league pitcher of the year.

Gagne did not live up to expectations in the 2000 season.After spring training, in which he compiled an ERA of 15.63, he failed to make the big-league roster; instead, he was optioned to the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League (PCL).But after several of the Dodgers' starting pitchers suffered injuries during the early weeks of the season, Gagne was again called up to the big-league club.Control continued to elude him, however, and he was shuttled back and forth between the Dukes and the Dodgers throughout the season.When he returned to the Dodgers in September, he succeeded in making some satisfactory starts.In the majors that year, Gagne pitched a bit over 101 innings and started 19 games; his record also included four wins and six losses, an ERA of 5.15, 79 strikeouts, and 60 walks.His numbers in Albuquerque were more impressive: Gagne won five games and lost one and posted a 3.88 ERA.He also shone in the postseason, pitching to a semifinal-round victory for Albuquerque in the PCL play-offs against the Memphis Redbirds.

Gagne performed inconsistently in the opening months of the 2001 season, and he again traveled back and forth between the Dukes and the Dodgers before earning his spot on the big-league roster permanently in July.That same month the Dodgers' general manager, Dave Wallace, proposed to others within the organization the possibility of using Gagne as a closer, but no action was taken toward implementing his suggestion.
...
Consequently, the team's manager, Jim Tracy, began using Gagne as a long reliever.
...
Gagne proved to be effective in that role, but the Dodgers were unable to clinch a play-off berth, finishing the season with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses.At season's end, Gagne had compiled six wins, seven losses, and an ERA of 4.75.He notched 130 strikeouts, 46 walks, appeared in 33 games-in 24 as a starter-and pitched, in total, a little more than 151 innings.

In the 2002 season Gagne found his footing in the major leagues, establishing himself as one of the game's premier closers.To prepare for that year's campaign, he undertook a strenuous exercise regimen, working out in Montreal with several hockey players.By the time he reported to spring training, he had increased the velocity of his fastball from 93 to 97 miles per hour (mph).At the same time, his already impressive change-up strengthened.When Tracy tested Gagne in the bullpen during spring training, the pitcher played well.
...
Just a week into the season, Tracy assigned Gagne to that position.
...
A "turning point" in his career, as Gagne told a Sports Illustrated (June 17, 2002) writer, came on April 11, 2002, during a contest with the San Francisco Giants.The Dodgers held a one-run lead when, in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tracy--showing "a lot of confidence in me," as Gagne told the Sports Illustrated writer--sent him to the mound.
...
Gagne pitched his way into trouble, putting runners on first and third with one out.Tracy then visited the mound, telling Gagne, "I should bring in [the lefthander Jesse] Orosco, but I'm not.
...
Gagne struck out the next batter and got the final out on a fly to center field.During the rest of April, Gagne performed outstandingly, racking up nine saves with an ERA of 0.69.He continued in that mode in May and June."The stuff [Gagne is] featuring now is the best stuff I've ever seen . . . ," his teammate Shawn Green said to Mike DiGiovanna for the Los Angeles Times (June 22, 2002).
...
In a contest with the Cincinnati Reds on August 1, Gagne was ejected from the game for hitting a batter with the ball; in the ensuing verbal confrontation between Gagne and the umpire, the former bumped into the latter while arguing his case.A day later Major League Baseball officials ruled that the umpire had been at fault, that his dismissing Gagne from the game had been unwarranted, and that the league would not punish Gagne for the incidental contact.In the following games Gagne pitched ju